BlizzCon Eve: The Swag Bag, and Predictions

October 9, 2008 11:31 PM

BlizzCon has a Christmastime quality to it. 15,000 children--and child-like adults--have journeyed to Anaheim this year, passing through streets lined with lighted trees on their way in. When they arrive, the first thing they receive is a bag of gifts. And after finding out that Diablo III will be playable, excitement will undoubtedly rob many of their sleep.

Packed into this year's swag bag is a number of free Blizzard-related products. Two that caught my eye instantly are shown below: the official Diablo III stress ball--which turns red upon squeeze--and a simple film canister labeled, "Zerg Creep--DO NOT EAT." This Creep is horrifying. I anticipated the consistency of Ghostbusters slime, but this is far worse--a chilling, wet ooze that slowly crept from jar to table. Hidden inside the muck was a small figure of a Hydralisk--no doubt a ploy to force timid fans into touching the gross stuff. It worked, but now that I have the prize, I'm nuking this junk from orbit at the next opportunity.

But what of the show? The doors open in the morning around 9:30am PST (12:30pm EST). On hand will be game demo stations, tournaments, art displays, cosplayers--and, of course, Blizzard employees themselves. For the most part, I can only guess at what's in store for each of the company's three known properties.

StarCraft II:

A new build of the game will be playable on the show floor. Outside of that, more information on what's in the works for both Battle.net and the single-player campaign wouldn't be far-fetched.

World of Warcraft: Lich King is mostly a known quantity at this point, so any major WoW announcements would be a surprise. Blizzard was originally shooting for an expansion a year, but it seems unlikely we'll hear anything about a new update when the Lich King hype is still in full swing. Your guess is as good as mine.

Diablo III: According to show materials, Diablo III will be playable on the floor. Yeah.

I'm also expecting the announcement of another class, as well as plenty more details on the game. And a heart attack.

Before I sign off, this is worth a shot.

To the people in the room next door: I'm sorry the weapon that just dropped only has 48 strength. And I feel your pain on the Witch Doctor replacing the Necromancer. Total crap. Totally. But look--save the yelling and screaming for tomorrow's Diablo 3 color saturation debates, okay? Some of us are at least pretending to sleep over here.